


Zombies

by vampgirltish



Category: Game Grumps
Genre: Barry and Ross aren't even mentioned by name so that's why they're hinted, Brainwashing, F/M, Zombies, sort of, sort of again, this is hard to explain what it is
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-10
Updated: 2016-05-10
Packaged: 2018-06-07 12:07:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,337
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6803452
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/vampgirltish/pseuds/vampgirltish
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff"><p>this was based on a dream i had literally months ago. lol. sorry if it doesn't make sense. i might do more if people ask for it but idk.</p></blockquote>





	Zombies

For as long as the world had been around, there were the Vitae and the Avitae. The Vitae had a consciousness. They did not think like the Avitae. The Avitae were robots, essentially, brainwashed to check their vitals through numbers on skin or through a pinpointed figure on a graph. They did not look to themselves as the Vitae did.

The Vitae and Avitae alike had numbers on their wrist, a tattoo that changed with a series of numbers--almost like a serial number. Each of these numbers contributed to a different emotion, though the emotions never blended. If the emotions blended, an error appeared and that was that. The answer to any question that resulted in an error was, "I don't know" or "Answer uncertain." Like a Magic 8 Ball stuck on empty, falsified half-truths.

The key was taught to mankind at the age of five. Any time before that and you were too young to understand, any older it was too late. You had to write that key over and over for hours, once a week, for the whole year until you had it ingrained into your memories. The key had been figured out through careful research and it was not to be contradicted or believed to be false.

 

_Happy: 0_

_Sad: 1_

_Disgust: 2_

_Fear: 3_

_Surprise: 4_

_Anger: 5_

All other emotions branched from these, and because of this, they were all dumbed down to the six main ones for children. But, for adults, there was the option to learn what the different numbers after the first digit meant. 0 was emotions based on happiness, 1 was emotions based on sadness, 2 on disgust, 3 on fear, 4 on surprise, and 5 on anger. 

For the Vitae, the numbers didn't matter. For the Avitae, the numbers mattered more than anything else. If they did not have the numbers or know how to interpret them, they would have 3:6:12 on their wrist constantly, the number for TERRIFIED. 

* * *

 

You were visiting a YouTube meeting that morning, with the simple task of interviewing a couple people and trying to get to know some of them. You could only hope that the people you needed to interview were Vitae, because Avitae would only give you robotic, text-like conversations. Not natural at all.

You first went to talk to a few of the lesser-known YouTube personalities. You walked up to one, starting with the girl. She had pretty blue hair and a smile on her face. 

"Hi! I was wondering if you would be okay if I interviewed you? It's for a magazine."

She turned, the smile still on her face, "Of course."

Nothing out of the ordinary. That was a good sign. "Okay, thanks! First, I wanted to ask how your successes on YouTube have made you feel?"

She paused for a moment, as if processing your question, then looked down at her wrist. 0:4:8. "It makes me feel happy," a pause, "accepted," a pause, "and fulfilled."

Oh. She was an Avitae. You mentally scratched off all of the questions about feelings as best as you could, before moving on. "That's awesome! Um, how about your channel? It's been growing in subscribers for awhile now and that's really cool. What other content can we look forward to?"

She smiles again, suddenly back to casual, "I hope to release more content with fashion because I have been lacking on that a lot. I am..." a pause. She looked at her wrist. 4:4:7. The 7 was in a thicker, darker font. _Only read this one_ , that meant.  _Not the other two_. "...eager to share this stuff with everyone."

You cut your interview short. So many of your questions were based on feelings and you didn't want to make things harder for the Avitae by asking them feelings-based questions.

You thanked her for her time, moving on to the other two guys. Both of them were Avitae as well. You wondered if anyone here was not Avitae. Shaking it off with a sigh, you went into autopilot as you read the list of people you were supposed to interview. Now you were supposed to interview a group of people who called themselves the 'Game Grumps.'

You first went for the group, starting with a man off to the side, scrolling through his phone. Upon clearing your throat, he looked up. "Oh!"

"Could I interview you, maybe? It's for a magazine."

"Totally."

"First, could you introduce yourself? I'm not too familiar with your group."

"Sure, I'm Brian. Nice to meet you."

"Nice to meet you too." You offered a smile. "So, I've heard that you joined fairly recently. How does that make you feel?"

He stopped. Looked down at his wrist. 3:6.  _Fuck_. You weren't prejudiced against Avitae, much the opposite, but it was hard to conduct interviews when people couldn't talk easily without checking their emotions. Luckily, at least Brian interpreted his emotion quickly and didn't hold you up too much. "It makes me feel scared that I may not live up to the hype that the others made out for me, but I hope that people will like whatever content I help to make."

"Sure, sure." You say. A few more questions later, and a few more checks of Brian's emotional counter, you were on your way. Off to the next one. A woman named Suzy and a man named Arin both were Vitae, which was easier on you. They laughed comfortably and it made you feel a bit better. You noticed two of the guys mentioning they had to go, so they left--you watched them: a guy with an accent and a guy wearing a plaid button down with stubble. They seemed nice enough, but it was a shame you couldn't interview them. You then had to interview four more: Kevin, Vernon, Brent, and Danny.

You interviewed Kevin. He was an Avitae, and one who struggled a lot with reading the numbers. So much so that he had to have the help of another to help him interpret past the second digit.

You interviewed Vernon. He was an Avitae, but a much less dependent one, much like Brian.

You interviewed Brent. He was an Avitae, also less dependent. 

But you were so exhausted with having to throw three-fourths of your questions out the window because Avitae had trouble interpreting their feelings and some could not even read their numbers. It made it difficult for you as much as it made it difficult and uncomfortable for them.

You were tired of it, and frankly overwhelmed. You saw the last guy, you assumed it was Danny based on the process of elimination. But you couldn't take interviewing another Avitae, even if you didn't know if he was or not.

So you stormed off, tears in your eyes from feeling overwhelmed. He called after you, clearly realizing your distress but also realizing that he was one of the group you were interviewing. He followed after you to the quiet hallway, reaching out to you. Kneeling next to you. Hand on your shoulder.

"Are you okay?" he asked.

"I just can't take it anymore."

"What?"

"I'm so tired of interviewing Avitae because it's like talking to a wall. I know they can't help it at all, but it's so hard. It's so hard to try."

"I know."

"No you don't." You couldn't stop yourself from saying it.

He looked at you curiously.

"I'm confused why you think I wouldn't understand. They're my friends. I know what it's like to be around Avitae."

You realized you were being childish. "R-right. I'm sorry."

"It's okay."

He stayed with you until you had sufficiently calmed down. 

Then, "So how about we finish that interview, huh?"

You smiled a little, and nodded. "You sure?"

He smiled back, wider, "I'd be glad to."

You noticed he didn't check his numbers on his wrist. He just said it, with no second though. He was a Vitae. Or so you assumed.

**Author's Note:**

> this was based on a dream i had literally months ago. lol. sorry if it doesn't make sense. i might do more if people ask for it but idk.


End file.
